This spy roaming the frozen north has reported in on 3 Documentaries that sound promising. We'll call this fella Sr. Colossus. Ok folks, keep sending em in, last year we got a ton of reports, let's let the rest of the world in on what's happening out there!!! Isn't it exciting!!
I've seen three documentaries in the competition at Sundance, The Black Press, Sing Faster and Home Page. It seems the doc competition will be strong this year.
I saw a screening of The Black Press: Soldiers Without Words in Oakland in December. It was a grand affair. There was great food and a large audience. Then Mayor-elect Jerry Brown attended. Director Stanley Nelson was there to introduce the film and answer questions. I sat next to the man who shot most of the doc.
It was one of the best historical documentaries I've seen in years. Lots of information I didn't know and interesting journalists and publishers that enliven the stories. Luckily, it will be airing on most PBS stations on Feb. 8. But it was great seeing it with an audience in Oakland.
I saw Sing Faster: The Stagehand's Ring Cycle on tape. Jon Else (who directed the Day After Trinity among other classic docs) shot it when the Ring cycle was performed by the San Francisco Opera in 1990. It wasn't finished until last year because it took him that long to raise the money.
It is a visually stunning doc and very funny. The story of the ring cycle is told from the POV of the stage hands. Even though most of the funding came from CPB, PBS has refused to air it. Hopefullly the reaction at Sundance will change that.
Finally, I saw Doug Block's Home Page in June in a screening at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He's cut about 15 minutes since then (including the main scene I was in). It is a great chronicle of the web back in a more idealistic time (1996). It focuses on Justin Hall, but it is also how Doug was sucked in by the web. He has a fascinating journal on the making of the doc on his web site. It will also be shown in Rotterdam. And hopefully it will get theatrical distribution.
